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Jennifer Hudson may have been the Idol alum on Clive Davis’s arm when UJA-Federation honored him at a Music for Youth benefit yesterday, but the veteran hit-maker has no hard feelings toward her fellow former Idol, Kelly Clarkson, who very publicly dissed him earlier this month and then apologized last week. “Kelly’s been a vital, vital recording artist for us from the very beginning,” he told us, displaying the diplomacy that’s made him a success in the music business for decades, “so I’m delighted to take her back on track, and we’ll be getting to work on her next album real soon.” Former Giants running back Tiki Barber — who knows a thing or two about public tiffs — was there, and he defended Clarkson’s outburst, and her apology. “Kelly has an opinion about her life. It is her prerogative to express it,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with saying sorry.” So has he apologized to his former coach, Tom Coughlin, whom he publicly criticized? “I never really criticized him,” he said. “There was a story that I criticized him, but it wasn’t him I was criticizing. It was others. But the media will run with what they want to run with.” Barber, we’ll remind you, is now a national correspondent for the Today show. —Shira Levine
